Going out: Cinema<\/p>\n
Nouvelle Vague
Out now
Never bet against Richard Linklater: the veteran director (Dazed and Confused, Boyhood) loves turning his hand to different genres, and his latest is a typically mellow dramatisation of the period in French film history that saw the likes of Jean-Luc Godard, Fran\u00e7ois Truffaut and Claude Chabrol shake off their lives as critics and become bona fide film legends.<\/p>\n
Is This Thing On?
Out now
It sounds like an improbable standup bit in itself, but no: here we have a\u00a0Hollywood comedy inspired by the life of the UK\u2019s own John Bishop. Will Arnett plays the man in a troubled marriage who decides to give open mic a go and is a surprise hit, while Laura Dern plays his wife. Directed by Bradley Cooper (yes, the Bradley Cooper).<\/p>\n
Primate
Out now
Come on now, people: chimpanzees are unsuitable enough as pets to start with. Throw a case of rabies into the mix and poor Ben the chimp soon finds himself the antagonist in a quirky horror movie in which a family\u2019s tropical holiday goes very wrong indeed.<\/p>\n
Shelter
Out now
Jason Statham is front and centre in this action\/survival thriller, in which a\u00a0former assassin must protect a young girl he rescues during a storm. Per the demands of the genre, his past is set to catch up with him in ways that will make his role as protector more challenging. Also starring Bill Nighy, Naomi Ackie and Daniel Mays. Catherine Bray<\/p>\n
Going out: GigsMagnetic \u2026 Anna of the North. Photograph: William Spooner<\/p>\n
Anna of the North
Islington Assembly Hall, London, 5 February
Tyler, the Creator\u2019s favourite Scandi-pop star (they collaborated on his Flower Boy album) brings her emotionally frayed soft-pop to London. With the second part of last year\u2019s excellent Girl in a Bottle EP due at some point, keep an ear out for new songs. Michael Cragg<\/p>\n
Manchester Collective: Sky With the Four Suns
3 to 12 February; tour starts Bristol Beacon
Manchester Collective\u2019s immersive performances have established it as one of the coolest outfits in classical music. This latest tour juxtaposes the luminous expanses of John Luther Adams\u2019s Canticles of the Sky with works by Purcell, Britten and Arvo P\u00e4rt, plus a new commission by rising star Jasmine Morris. Flora Willson<\/p>\n
Dana Masters\/Viva Cuba Late Show
Ronnie\u2019s Scott\u2019s, London, 6 February
Ronnie Scott\u2019s club unveils the refurbishment of\u00a0its Upstairs venue, designed to cherish both the establishment\u2019s jazz-devoted history and its flair for discovering rising stars. Soul-jazz artist and former Van Morrison vocalist Dana Masters, and a\u00a0Cuban-jazz Late Late Show, open this legendary club\u2019s new era. John Fordham<\/p>\n
Xiu Xiu
31 January to 7 February, tour starts Falmer
Released earlier this month, Xiu Mutha Fuckin\u2019 Xiu: Vol 1 collects together the US experimental rock trio\u2019s brilliantly odd selection of cover versions, originally released on Bandcamp. Fingers crossed they highlight their unsettling version of Robyn\u2019s modern classic Dancing on My Own on this short tour. MC<\/p>\n
Going out: ArtReady to war \u2026 Samurai armour. Photograph: The Trustees of the British Museum<\/p>\n
Samurai
British Museum, London, 3 February to\u00a04 May
The masks and armour of Japan\u2019s old warrior elite, not to mention the high-quality steel and ritualised crafting of Samurai swords, have fascinated westerners from King James I, who took delivery of a\u00a0complete Samurai suit in the 1600s, down to Kill Bill. Here\u2019s the reality behind the myth.<\/p>\n
Jenny Holzer
20-21 Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe, 31 January to 13 June
What are words worth? Quite a lot if\u00a0they are a Jenny Holzer artwork. This\u00a0radical American artist has been creating provocative, rhetorical text pieces since the 1970s and was a\u00a0defining figure of 1980s \u201cpostmodernism\u201d. Today her messages, from printed matter to massive neon signs, are once again resonant.<\/p>\n
People Watching
Dorset Museum and Art Gallery, Dorchester, to 10 May
Dod Procter, Elisabeth Frink, Barbara Hepworth and more star in a survey of British portraiture in modern times. The human image was questioned in the 20th century as never before. The very idea of a \u201clikeness\u201d was challenged by expressionists, cubists and others \u2013 yet artists still pictured people, often radically.<\/p>\n
New Contemporaries
South London Gallery, to 12 April
It\u2019s getting harder to capture the contemporary as it moves faster, from AI to Trump\u2019s latest. The artists here are fresh out of college or still studying, and their takes on the shock of the now may surprise you. Participants include Kat Anderson, Hadas Auerbach, Deborah Lerner and many more. Jonathan Jones<\/p>\n
Going out: StageCheeky monkey \u2026 Tom Rosenthal. Photograph: Jack Margerison<\/p>\n
Tom Rosenthal
Exeter Phoenix, 1 February; touring to 25 September
In his high-concept new show, Whatever People Say I Am, That\u2019s What I\u00a0Am, relatably neurotic Friday Night Dinner star Rosenthal wrestles with\u00a0his identity \u2013 his celebrity status, his Jewish heritage, his autism \u2013 while drawing parallels between his own career and that of indie greats the Arctic Monkeys. Rachel Aroesti<\/p>\n
The Tempest
Shakespeare\u2019s Globe: Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, London, to\u00a012 April
Following on from last year\u2019s star-studded revival of his play An Oak Tree, Tim Crouch directs The Tempest. He stars alongside Naomi Wirthner in a show set to be full of storytelling, surprises and self-reflection. Miriam\u00a0Gillinson<\/p>\n
Macbeth
Hull Truck theatre, 5 to 28 February; touring to 18 April
This co-production from Hull Truck, Octagon and Derby theatres is designed to align with the GCSE curriculum and is set in a modern war zone. Oliver Alvin-Wilson plays Macbeth alongside Jo Mousley\u2019s Lady Macbeth. MG<\/p>\n
The Monocle Staying in: StreamingBrains trust \u2026 Alan Carr and Susie Dent. Photograph: Jack Barnes\/Channel 4<\/p>\n Secret Genius Mock the Week Long Story Short The Pushover Staying in: GamesHorror show \u2026 I Hate This Place. Photograph: Bloober Team<\/p>\n I Hate This Place Cairn Staying in: AlbumsFloat on \u2026 S\u00e9bastien Tellier. Photograph: Jonas Unger<\/p>\n S\u00e9bastien Tellier \u2013 Kiss the Beast AG Cook \u2013 The Moment (The Score) The Soft Pink Truth \u2013 Can Such Delightful Times Go on Forever? Labrinth \u2013 Cosmic Opera Act I Staying in: Brain food<\/p>\n
Arc, Stockton, 31 January; Westlands, Yeovil, 3 February; Ocean theatre, Bournemouth, 6 February
Choreographer Mathieu Geffr\u00e9 and his company Rendez-Vous Dance<\/a> recreate the underground nightlife 30s Paris in this story of\u00a0The Monocle, a\u00a0renowned lesbian cabaret club. Six women find love, laugh, drink and dance the night away in a blur of freedom and sensuality backed by jazz singer Imogen Banks. Lyndsey Winship<\/p>\n
Channel 4, 1 February, 9pm
From gameshows to Mediterranean-themed property programmes, Celebrity Traitor extraordinaire Alan Carr is deservedly all over our screens at present. For his latest project the comic teams up with Countdown\u2019sSusie Dent to hunt down the nation\u2019s most extraordinary \u2013 and underappreciated \u2013 brainboxes.<\/p>\n
TLC, 1 February, 9pm
The Dara \u00d3 Briain-helmed topical panel show has only been off our screeners for two-and-a-bit years but it has already been revived by the newly free-to-air channel TLC. Expect familiar faces (Hugh Dennis, Katherine Ryan, Russell Howard, Sara Pascoe) and an ambitious new 60-minute running time.<\/p>\n
iPlayer & BBC Three, 1 February, 9pm
This BBC initiative nurtures the showrunners of tomorrow by pairing new talent with local production companies and established actors (Corey Mylchreest, Iwan Rheon, Anjana Vasan). The result is a series of imaginative mini-dramas about everything from alpha male influencers to paranormal festivals and supermarket pineapples.<\/p>\n
Channel 4, 2 February, 12.15am
A new slice of Nordic noir follows plucky Danish journalist Nora Sand as she investigates the death of a woman discovered floating in her own swimming pool. Could her boyfriend Tom \u2013 a notorious fraudster with another secret even darker than his scams \u2013 be the culprit? RA<\/p>\n
PS5, PC, Xbox, Nintendo Switch; out now
If a graphic novel take on old-school Resident Evil sounds like fun to you, take a look at this 1980s-camp survival-horror game based on the comic of the same name. Spend days prepping and crafting, and nights surviving the demonic horrors that come your way.<\/p>\n
PS5, PC; out now
In this beautiful-looking if somewhat pitiless mountain game. Aava wants to be the first person in the world to climb a particularly forbidding summit, and you must help her \u2013 carefully, by moving her individual limbs and puzzling out the least dangerous routes up the cliff face. Keza\u00a0MacDonald<\/p>\n
Out now
Six years after exploring his interior world on Domesticated, stylish French electro pioneer Tellier ventures out on this eighth album. Featuring guest spots from Nile Rodgers and Kid Cudi, plus production from Oscar Holter (the Weeknd, Robyn), songs such as Copycat and Refresh are slinky dancefloor fillers.<\/p>\n
Out now
Charli xcx taps up her regular collaborator AG Cook for the soundtrack to her Brat summer mockumentary, The Moment. The tellingly titled Dread turns xcx\u2019s 2012 breakthrough smash I Love It into a creeping horror score, undermining the repeated joy of the title.<\/p>\n
Out now
Drew Daniel, who is also one half of bonkers electro duo Matmos, originally started this side project as a\u00a0dare in 2003 after Matthew Herbert challenged him to make a house record. Six records in and its evolved to include the beautiful chamber pieces showcased here.<\/p>\n
Out now
Ahead of the return of Euphoria \u2013 Labrinth is the HBO show\u2019s long-term composer \u2013 comes the London polymath\u2019s fourth solo album, his first in three years. Moody and cinematic, songs such as IMPLOSION and S.W.M.F., bolt expansive strings on to pounding hip-hop beats. MC<\/p>\n